Browsing by Subject "media"

The objective in this study was to describe play with media devices and scrutinize how media and play intertwine in Mediaplay in Kirkkonummi. The two research questions were how Caillois's core charasteristics of play were found in Mediaplay and what kind of relation between media and play is composed in Mediaplay. Media is significant developmental environment for our children, thus setting a challenge to child-centered media education. The aim of Mediaplay is to enable child-centered media education through play. In Mediaplay children operate with cameras and videocameras freely, produce media and play with and within media. It is important to understand what kind of play is constructed when children are playing with media devices. Video data was produced by filming 4-5 years old children's Mediaplay in two Kirkkonummi municipal daycare centers during 2012. Data was analyzed by video analysis. Play episodes were recognised and analyzed deductively from Caillois's play theory. The relationship between play and media was analyzed abductively. Core characteristics of play were recognised in mediacontexted and mediafacilitated play. Fourteen play episodes were divided to mimicry and ilinx categories. Some of the play episodes did not fit any of Caillois's categories of play. Those episodes consisted of strong physical activity without vertigo element. Mimicry episodes consisted of roleplay. In ilinx episodes vertigo was produced virtually by media. Agon characteristics of Mediaplay were recognised only when analyzing all operational episodes. Media and play had multiple simultaneous relations to each other. Media was a play topic, and same time a toy. Media was expansed from a toy to context of play when children were playing with an inside of visual elements. Mediacontexted and mediafacilitated play can be creative, rich in imagination and encourage to physical activity. Conducting adult's orientation in Mediaplay has an influence how actual activities are constructed; under strong adult conduction Mediaplay can turn into pedagogical play. Further research should be made of the meaning that children give to their play within media and how aims of small children's media education are attained by Mediaplay method.

The societal impact of media has grown during the past decade, mostly as a result of the ongoing digitalisation. We live in a culture where a significant part of our daily experiences are delivered by some form of media. The influential role of media is obvious, and the contents are produced by an unprecedented range of authors, from the children and youth to marketing professionals. For this reason, having good media skills is more important than ever. These skills include the understanding, production and interpretation of media. In the present work, we studied the teaching of media skills at elementary school level from the viewpoint of class room teachers. Our goal was to find out how media education is realised in practice. We approached media education from the perspective of its technical, content-related and cultural aspects. We studied how the teachers understand media education, and how they see themselves as media educators. The study was realised as a qualitative case study. The research material was gathered by interviewing six elementary school teachers during the spring of 2016. The material was interpreted by means of content analysis. The research material is divided into three main themes, which in turn consist of seven sub-themes. The interviewees were very different with respect to their understanding of media education. Nevertheless, they all considered it to be of importance. The practical media education, as realised in the class room, had a clear emphasis on the content-related aspects, as well as on the development of critical media literacy. The same emphasis could be seen in the teachers' own definitions of media education. The interviewees felt uncertain of using media as a tool in their own teaching. They believed that a practical media education guide would be beneficial when planning their lessons. They felt that focusing on media education was challenging amidst their other teaching duties. Majority of the teachers told that media education was only realised integrated into others substances. Our results imply that, in the Finnish elementary school, media education is not realised to its full need and potential.

Objectives. The media has the power to define and modify our thoughts and speeches. One of the bases of this study was a theory which states that media acts as an intermediary, for example between decision-makers, teachers and parents. Mass communication has the power to create an arena of social interaction in which we all communicate, create values and form social groups. Thanks to our media culture, our curriculum has also become mediated into our society. The research objective was to find out what kind of information Helsingin Sanomat newspaper tells about the National core curriculum for basic education 2014. The author searched for things that were highlighted in the media coverage of the reform and the perspective that the reforms were presented. Methods. The research materials were 120 newspaper articles. The articles were published in Helsingin Sanomat between 3.11.2011 and 30.5.2017. Those were mainly news and opinion articles. Articles were found in Helsingin Sanomat online archive with researchers own account. The material was categorized for analysis based on themes and critical media literacy. It was divided into to four themes: process, economic, change and learning speech. Process speech focused on the administrative and political aspects of curriculum work, economic speech on economic aspects related on the curriculum, change speech to the social changes underlying the curriculum and the learning speech in everything from learning to school. The usage and the language of the themes were analyzed with discourse. Results and conclusions. The curriculum discourse in Helsingin Sanomat focused on the change and learning speech. Newspapers curriculum was oriented towards the future. It was represented as very digital, communal and beneficial reform. As a conclusion can be said that the Helsingin Sanomat news defines the new curriculum changes as innovated, digital and challenging. It has high expectations. Changes in the curriculum plan are expected to have an impact particularly on the coordination of theory and practice and on the way that members of the school community will be able to work in the future.

The purpose of this research is to find out what is published about early childhood education in the news. Previous studies have shown that Finns mainly trust the leading national news media, Helsingin Sanomat and Yle. In addition, the research find out and think about how news can influence the public. The research analyzes the topics and language of the news headlines. The research was conducted by the qualitative method, which consists of content analysis that examined online news headlines published by Helsingin Sanomat and Yle news. Through discourse analysis, I also studied the language of news headlines as well as the meanings and images they produce. The research figured out what kind of topics and how early childhood education will be reported in Yle's and Helsingin Sanomat's news in 2022. I will focus on 194 news headlines in the research that was published between the first of April and December 14th, 2022. The research material was selected by including the words early childhood education or daycare that had to be mentioned in the news title. I classified the research material into four categories: crisis, statement, neutral and positive. The results showed that my material consisted of the most of neutral news headlines. Crisis news had the next highest number, and the quantitative difference in positive news was remarkably large. There were only 12 positive news headlines from the entire material. The topics of the news headlines were mainly related to the labor shortage and informing about the spring 2022 strike. Crisis news headlines mainly related to the labor shortage and the word crisis was used a lot in the headlines. Neutral news headlines were expressed without using strong dictions or otherwise bringing out strong opinions. They were mainly related to informing about the strike or like building a new kindergarten. In particular, crisis and statement headlines used quotes or comments that were mostly expressed by ministers or researchers. The research makes me think about what kind of effect news headlines have on the attractiveness and on public opinion of the industry of early childhood education.

In 2020, many social institutions such as educational institutions faced a new challenge due to a global health and social crisic called the COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic was and still is presented in the news on a daily basis. This master’s thesis examines what exactly was reported about basic education during the first wave of coronavirus in the Finnish media. The goal was to find out what matters and in what way basic education was written about. The study material consists of 68 news articles from the following online news services: Helsingin Sanomat, Yle and Iltalehti. The theoretical section introduces the Finnish school system and school policy and also discusses the curriculum, basic education, the social function of the school institution, social constructionism and the media. The study was made from a qualitative perspective, and discourse analysis was used. The study showed that the news coverage of basic education was versatile and diverse in the Finnish media during the first wave of coronavirus, which is an indication of the significance of basic education and its important role in society. The news coverage was mainly informative, but a significant amount also emphasized opinion, which shows that basic education affects the everyday life of Finns extensively and closely, and which is why it was presented in the media, for example in the form of opinion pieces. The news topics especially highlighted distance learning and teaching arrangements and the related experiences, and these provide relevant topics for further studies.

Background and aims. Fatness and dieting have been the object of interest between many fields for a long time. Home economics as a discipline enables a comprehensive inspection of fatness and dieting reviewing different disciplines. In addition to the aspect where the pursuit of dieting and health is seen from the perspective of medical and health science it is also been reviewed as a social and cultural phenomena. This study contemplates the influence of history, religion, medicalization and media on dieting and health culture. The objective is to find out if the modern dieting and health culture has gathered influences from centuries ago and absorbed religious features. The stress deriving from appearance has been discussed in the public and there are many solutions concerning weight issues. The purpose of this study is to find out what personal experiences and thoughts female pastors have concerning these questions. The media – which is one of the most influential systems nowadays – has undeniably a great effect on the consumer. The goal is furthermore to estimate the effect of the media on the changing of dieting and health culture. The three main research questions are: 1. What kind of conceptions do female pastors have of dieting and health culture and of its religious features? 2. What kind of personal experiences and conceptions do female pastors have of dieting and strivines of health? 3. How do female pastors regard the image the media has supplied of dieting and health culture? Material and methods. The qualitative data was gathered in year 2009 using the halfstructured theme interview -method. The data consists of interviews conducted with specialists of spiritual matters, i.e. ten female pastors who are between 35 and 60 years old and live in the metropolitan area. The analytical procedure used is called a theory based context analysis. Results and conclusions. Results of this study show that the idealization of slimness and healthiness is a matter discussed in the public on a daily basis. The problem faced was that the media provided contradictory information regarding fatness and dieting and the standard of slimness in commercials focused on females. The pursuit of dieting and healthiness was believed to include also religious elements. In the Middle Ages and the era after that the fatness, overeating and the pleasure one gets from eating was still seen as a condemnable matter in our culture. One could say this was like a sin. The respondents believed that healthiness, healthy living, optimal eating and good looks were a matter more or less equal than a religion. This was a derivative from the fact that treasuring health has become a life stearing value for many people. In the priest's profession dieting and the pursuit of health was seen in the light of problems arising from weight issues. In ones profession for example the unhealthy eating in festive situations was seen as a matter that leads to unnecessary weight. Another aspect was the job circumstances that limited the degree of movement. The belief was that the female pastors would in a decreasing fashion confront stress deriving from appearance in their job.